Scientists at Play
Dec. 11th, 2011 09:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stringertheoryTitle: Scientists at Play
Rating: PG
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Characters: Jack O'Neill, Samantha Carter, Daniel Jackson, Teal'c
Word Count: 3213
Categories: humor, team
Spoilers/Warnings: None.
Summary: Another prompt fic. Sam and Daniel being the Wonder Twins.
They emerged from the Gate to a breathtaking view of the sea.
Across a gently sloping bit of scrubland, the land fell away to an unseen shore, and the ocean stretched beyond that to the horizon. The coastline curved into the distance at either hand, visible for miles as it formed a wide bay directly in front of the Gate. Short, hardy bushes poked up from the soil here and there and the cry of birds was carried to them by a gentle breeze that smelled of salt. Jack stepped off the Gate platform and onto the pale grass that surrounded it, and blinked at the scenery from behind his glasses.
“This is... different,” he said.
Daniel nodded and squinted interestedly at one of the nearby shrubs. “The climate of this planet—at least this part of it—appears to be related to the Mediterranean Basin on Earth.” He bent to examine one of the shrub's leaves. “A combination of grass-, shrub-, and scrublands giving way to the ocean.”
“It reminds me a little of Italy,” Sam said. The others looked in her direction, and she gave a small shrug. “Minus the architecture.”
“And the food, one would presume,” Jack added.
“Yes, sir,” she replied with a quick grin.
“What it doesn't remind me of is most the planets we've been to,” Jack continued. With one last admiring glance at the coast, he turned to survey the area inland. “I've gotten used to expecting—”
He cut off as they all came to a halt facing back in the direction from which they had arrived. Behind the Gate, the scrubland continued on for miles, mingling with open patches of grass until it reached a chain of low, squat mountains. From the darker green that covered their shallow slopes, it was clear that they were covered in—
“Trees.” Jack waved a hand in their general direction. “There they are.”
The mountain chain stretched inland to their right, but to their left, an arm snaked near to the coast. Sam was already heading in that direction, gaze held by the scanner in her hands.
“I take it you've located our mysterious signal?” Jack called after her.
“Yes, sir, about two klicks that way,” she threw back over her shoulder, pointing in the general vicinity.
“Carry on, Carter,” he said, flapping his hand at her back.
Teal'c fell into step just behind Sam as she led the way. Daniel followed close behind, and Jack brought up the rear. As they left the coast behind, the salty air gave way to a milder, sweeter scent Jack couldn't name, though it seemed familiar. He gave the looming hills another inspection as they drew closer. Though most of them were blanketed by trees—and now they were close enough that Jack could make out the shapes of the various types—there were bare places here and there where the shrubs grew up onto the mountainside. Sam seemed to be leading them toward one such area.
The land began to rise slightly, gentle swells that hid a little more of the view ahead the closer they drew to the mountains. Sam paused at the crest of one hill, just above their first patch of forest. From there, they were able make out a structure built either up against or into the mountain itself. It was nestled in a scrubby area between two pockets of trees.
“Looks like a temple of some kind,” Daniel said, coming to a halt beside Sam and Teal'c and looking in that direction, one hand shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun.
“Whatever it is that I'm picking up, it's in there,” Sam said.
“Well, we've come this far,” Jack said as he joined them. “Let's go see what it is.”
Teal'c took point and they approached the structure with a bit more speed, sure now of their destination. Soon, they walked into shadow, the mountains above them blocking out the direct light of the sun. A few hundred meters from the temple, a faint but unmistakable path appeared. It was narrow, but Jack could see where the encroaching grass had covered it, hiding a much wider avenue. At first, the track was just a leveler area of hard-packed dirt, but soon the thin sliver broadened slightly, and the lines of pavers could be seen. The road led them to the door of the temple. Without hesitation, Sam and Daniel stepped closer to examine the structure. Teal'c stopped a short distance away and planted his feet, back to the mountain and eyes scanning back along the path. Jack shared a glance with him as he passed.
“Daniel? What have we got?”
Daniel was running his hands over one of the pillars that held up the temple's facade. At this proximity, they could see that the building did extend into the base of the mountain, though it was unclear how far.
“These are Aeolic columns,” Daniel replied, giving the column a pat. He was frowning faintly, but his eyes were alight. “They're related to the Ionic order of Greek architecture, but little is known about the Aeolic order.”
“And?” Jack asked quickly, sensing the impending arrival of a rambling education in ancient building methods.
Daniel blinked at him. “'And' nothing. It's just interesting.”
“Carter? Anything you'd like to add?”
Sam looked up from her examination of the temple walls, which were about six feet in from the pillars.
“This is all hand-carved, sir,” she said, a hint of wonder in her voice. She gestured to encompass the temple in general. “All of this was carved, by hand, from the mountain, and then the front part was built on to create the temple facade.” She shook her head, gazing at the wall and running her fingertips over its surface. “It must have taken them ages.”
Teal'c, joining them, cast his eye around the space. “I have seen similar techniques used to create strongholds for the Goa'uld.”
“Goa'uld, living in caves?” Jack asked in disbelief.
“There are some who prefer to live within the security of subterranean abodes. A few such palaces were created merely to display the wealth and power of the resident god. The labor required to carve out a cave to the exacting specifications of a Goa'uld's desire is substantial.” His jaw tightening a fraction. “Many slaves would die in the process.”
“You think a Goa'uld could have built this place?”
Teal'c eyed the structure once more. “It is possible.”
“Sir, I'm going to go check—” Sam was standing at the doorway and pointing into the building, the scanner still clutched in her hand.
“Why don't we all go inside?” Jack replied, and he shooed Daniel in front of him.
Sam slipped in ahead of them and Teal'c came to stand in the doorway, alternating his careful watch between the team inside and the path leading to the temple. The temple interior was roughly hewn, the mountain-side wall more like that of a natural cave than the smoother structure they had seen outside and that which graced the inside of the exterior wall. There was only one room. Though essentially a cave, it was surprisingly bright. Large slots near the roof of the outer wall allowed in ample sunlight, and the room's relative shallowness meant that the light reached every corner.
The temple was bright, cool, and empty. Niches had been carved into the walls at either side, but otherwise the room lacked ornamentation. The only object in the space was a waist-high pedestal of black stone. The top of the pedestal was flat, though there was a round peg of some sort in the center. Daniel and Sam were already circling the pedestal when Jack stepped through the doorway.
“And what is that?” he asked.
“Don't know,” Daniel replied in a distracted tone.
Jack turned to Sam.
“Not sure, sir, but it's giving off energy of some kind.” Sam stopped and stepped up to the device, holding her scanner just above its surface.
“'Of some kind'?” Jack asked. Up close, he could see that the peg was actually a short cylinder, approximately an inch in diameter, set into the top of the pedestal. Though the pedestal top had appeared flat, it was actually a very shallow bowl rimmed by about an inch of flat surface.
Sam didn't spare him a glance as she frowned at the scanner and tapped a few buttons. “The readings are faint and disjointed. I'm going to need more time and information to figure out what this is.”
“I might be able to help with that,” Daniel said from the floor. He was sitting cross-legged beside the pedestal, nose only a few inches away from it. Jack and Sam moved over to him. On that side of the device, symbols had been etched into the stone.
“Instructions?” Jack asked.
“Maybe.” Daniel drew a finger across the top line, mouthing silently to himself as he read. “It's Greek,” he said. “At least, a very modified cousin of Greek. These inscriptions tell of an order of priestesses or something similar, calling them to their 'honored duty in the sacred tasks.’”
As Daniel spoke, Sam circled the device again, carefully running her hands over the stone. She stopped opposite Daniel and began scraping at the top of the pedestal.
Daniel, reading a few more lines, glanced toward the doorway. “I'm not so sure the Goa'uld were ever here,” he called to Teal'c. “It sounds like this temple was built by people from another planet, and their spiritual leaders came here for rituals of some sort.”
Teal'c inclined his head in acknowledgment just as Sam let out a quiet “Ha!” of triumph. With a scrape, she pulled a small panel of stone from the pillar top and set it aside with a muted clack. Beneath the panel was a network of crystals, and she immediately set to examining them.
“The technology looks like Goa'uld,” she told Daniel, who looked up from his perusal of the text. “Crystalline.”
“The people who built it might have been under Goa'uld control before or during its construction,” Daniel offered, “or they may have picked up the knowledge from the Goa'uld and started using it on their own.”
Sam nodded and they fell silent as one read and the other tested. Teal'c continued his wary guard. Jack ambled around the cave, nosing into the niches.
After checking an entire row of crystals, Sam shook her head. “I'm not getting anything from this,” she huffed. “The crystals appear to be dead, or at least dormant, but the device is giving off faint energy from somewhere.”
“Stored energy?” Jack offered helpfully.
“Could be,” Sam replied. “But then why isn't it getting to the crystals?”
“Maybe because it's not on,” Daniel said.
“Don't tell me this thing has an 'on' switch,” Jack said.
“Not exactly.”
Daniel traced his finger across a few more symbols then glanced up and said a word that made Jack say, “Gesundheit”. They waited a few seconds, looking around the room. Even Teal'c glanced inside with interest from his place in the door. But nothing happened.
“Nothing happened,” Jack said.
“Yes, I can see that.”
Jack started to say something else, but at that moment, Sam repeated the word Daniel had spoken. She did so slowly, hesitantly, testing the unfamiliar sounds with a small frown on her face. She got so far as tacking on an “isn't that” before a low hum filled the room and a soft blue light began to emanate from inside the cylinder on top of the device. Everyone stared at it for a long minute.
“Huh,” Jack said.
“What happened?” Sam was already sifting through the data, her eyes darting back and forth as she followed the read-out on her scanner. “The energy readings just tripled,” she said. She narrowed her eyes at the crystal tray. “I didn't do anything.”
“Yes you did,” Daniel countered. “You gave it the 'on' command.”
Sam stared at him in confusion. “I did what?”
Daniel held up a finger and turned back to the pedestal’s inscription. “You just said the word for 'on'—well, technically you said the word for 'break silence', which appears to be the way to active this device—and now we just have to find... ah, here it is: siga.”
When nothing happened, Daniel looked up at Sam. “Sam, you try it.”
Still clearly perplexed, Sam did as he asked. Again, the pedestal remained active. Daniel tried another word, 'siopa', next, then asked Sam to repeat it.
“Siopa,” she said dutifully. Immediately, the hum faded away, as did the light on the pedestal top.
“Interesting,” Daniel murmured.
“What, that it likes Sam better than you?” Jack asked.
Daniel ignored him. “Sam, could you turn it on again?”
She did so, and Daniel turned to Jack. “Jack, say 'siopa.’”
“Siopa,” Jack said with a shrug. He waved a hand at the still glowing pedestal. “Nothing.”
“Interesting,” Sam said. She shared a glance with Daniel.
“What?” Jack asked. But he saw the gleam in his scientists' eyes, and knew they weren't really listening. Before he could head off the information avalanche at the pass, they were on a roll.
“It must operate by pitch, honing in on specific frequencies and acoustic resonance—”
“The fact that it only responds to you makes sense. Based on the writing here, the only people allowed in this temple would have been women—female priests—”
“And using the particular frequency and resonance of the female vocal chords as a sort of lock mechanism—”
“They might have been something like the vestal virgins of ancient Rome: girls chosen specifically to perform religious tasks that were off limits to their male counterparts—”
“It's amazing. I mean, we didn't have viable dictation software until the 90s, much less viable voice recognition and here they are with their stone pedestal and their crystals—”
“From this, it seems like oral tradition was an important part of their spirituality; the inscriptions tell of 'speaking the words' and 'filling the silence'—”
“There's no sign of any sort of membrane or other structure for facilitating the collection of sound waves... unless the cave itself serves as a sort of filter, using vibration through the stone—”
“The concept of silence as sacred—or even a sacrament—can be found in religions all over Earth: Christianity, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism. Many indigenous cultures also attached a certain level of spirituality to silence—”
“Do you think these priestesses had a vow of silence?” Sam asked curiously, pulled from her own technological musings by the thought.
Daniel shrugged a shoulder and turned his attention back to the inscription. “The language used here seems to indicate the importance of speech, of the ability—or, rather, the opportunity, the responsibility—to speak within the temple. That would lend credence to the thought that they might have viewed speech itself as something sacred and only allowed at particular times.” He paused, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Thinking about it, it wasn't uncommon for women in power to employ eunuchs as servants.”
“What?” Jack quickly turned back from sweeping through one of the wall niches. He brushed his hand off on his pants and strode over to rejoin them. “What was that?”
“Maybe there was a certain range for the lock, then,” Sam posited. She turned her gaze on Jack, and he tensed. “Sir, say 'siopa' again, but do it in a higher voice.”
“Excuse me?”
“Say it higher, closer to Sam's natural pitch,” Daniel ordered brusquely.
“Why?”
“We're trying to determine how the auditory lock mechanism works, whether it has to be triggered by a female voice in particular, or if it only relies on pitch.” Sam snapped her fingers and turned back to Daniel. “We should also try for harmonic oscillation,” she said.
“Definitely.”
“What?” Jack asked again, somewhat desperately this time.
Daniel pushed his glasses up on his nose and stared up at Jack. “We need to test a few theories. Say 'siopa' again, and follow Sam's lead for how it should sound.”
“And how will my talking like a cartoon character—”
Sam glared at him, and he cut himself short. “Just try to mimic my voice, sir,” she said firmly.
They spent the next half hour repeating the two words over and over, first Sam, then Jack and Daniel mimicking her at various pitches and with varying effects. The pair tried to rope Jack into further experiments, but when they launched into a detailed turn of trying similar sounding words, he quickly excused himself to “help Teal'c with keeping watch.” They continued on without him for some time. Now and then in the excited chatter, Jack would catch phrases like “Q-factor” and “Parry and Lord” or “auditory sacraments” and “Hidden Markov models.”
After leaving them to it for an hour or so, he strode back over to check on their progress.
“So, what have you found out?”
Sam glanced up. “Apparently, whatever operates the lock is specifically tuned to female voices, though I can't figure out how it distinguishes from male and female.”
“The inscription here doesn't go into much detail,” Daniel added. “It's mostly a call to duty, a blessing of the site, that sort of thing.”
“Okay,” Jack replied. “But what does it do?”
Sam and Daniel blinked at him.
“Do?” Daniel asked.
“I don't think it does anything, sir.” Sam tapped the cylinder in the top of the pedestal. “There's a piece missing.”
Jack stared between them. “So you've been—”
“Playing with the security system, yes.”
He stared at them some more. They gave him twin looks of wide-eyed innocence. He couldn't be certain because he had his back to the door, but he would have bet good money that Teal'c had an eyebrow raised in amusement and that upturn at the corner of his mouth that passed for a Jaffa smile. Jack sighed and firmly jabbed his sunglasses back on his face.
“Let's go.”
“But—!”
“Jack—!”
“Ah ah ah!” He waggled a finger at them and then jabbed it toward the door. “Outside. March, two, three, four.”
Sulking a bit, but hiding smiles, Sam and Daniel headed outside. Jack followed them. As he drew level with the door, Teal'c met his eyes.
“Oh, shut up.”
Teal'c smirked, and followed Jack into the light.
Rating: PG
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Characters: Jack O'Neill, Samantha Carter, Daniel Jackson, Teal'c
Word Count: 3213
Categories: humor, team
Spoilers/Warnings: None.
Summary: Another prompt fic. Sam and Daniel being the Wonder Twins.
They emerged from the Gate to a breathtaking view of the sea.
Across a gently sloping bit of scrubland, the land fell away to an unseen shore, and the ocean stretched beyond that to the horizon. The coastline curved into the distance at either hand, visible for miles as it formed a wide bay directly in front of the Gate. Short, hardy bushes poked up from the soil here and there and the cry of birds was carried to them by a gentle breeze that smelled of salt. Jack stepped off the Gate platform and onto the pale grass that surrounded it, and blinked at the scenery from behind his glasses.
“This is... different,” he said.
Daniel nodded and squinted interestedly at one of the nearby shrubs. “The climate of this planet—at least this part of it—appears to be related to the Mediterranean Basin on Earth.” He bent to examine one of the shrub's leaves. “A combination of grass-, shrub-, and scrublands giving way to the ocean.”
“It reminds me a little of Italy,” Sam said. The others looked in her direction, and she gave a small shrug. “Minus the architecture.”
“And the food, one would presume,” Jack added.
“Yes, sir,” she replied with a quick grin.
“What it doesn't remind me of is most the planets we've been to,” Jack continued. With one last admiring glance at the coast, he turned to survey the area inland. “I've gotten used to expecting—”
He cut off as they all came to a halt facing back in the direction from which they had arrived. Behind the Gate, the scrubland continued on for miles, mingling with open patches of grass until it reached a chain of low, squat mountains. From the darker green that covered their shallow slopes, it was clear that they were covered in—
“Trees.” Jack waved a hand in their general direction. “There they are.”
The mountain chain stretched inland to their right, but to their left, an arm snaked near to the coast. Sam was already heading in that direction, gaze held by the scanner in her hands.
“I take it you've located our mysterious signal?” Jack called after her.
“Yes, sir, about two klicks that way,” she threw back over her shoulder, pointing in the general vicinity.
“Carry on, Carter,” he said, flapping his hand at her back.
Teal'c fell into step just behind Sam as she led the way. Daniel followed close behind, and Jack brought up the rear. As they left the coast behind, the salty air gave way to a milder, sweeter scent Jack couldn't name, though it seemed familiar. He gave the looming hills another inspection as they drew closer. Though most of them were blanketed by trees—and now they were close enough that Jack could make out the shapes of the various types—there were bare places here and there where the shrubs grew up onto the mountainside. Sam seemed to be leading them toward one such area.
The land began to rise slightly, gentle swells that hid a little more of the view ahead the closer they drew to the mountains. Sam paused at the crest of one hill, just above their first patch of forest. From there, they were able make out a structure built either up against or into the mountain itself. It was nestled in a scrubby area between two pockets of trees.
“Looks like a temple of some kind,” Daniel said, coming to a halt beside Sam and Teal'c and looking in that direction, one hand shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun.
“Whatever it is that I'm picking up, it's in there,” Sam said.
“Well, we've come this far,” Jack said as he joined them. “Let's go see what it is.”
Teal'c took point and they approached the structure with a bit more speed, sure now of their destination. Soon, they walked into shadow, the mountains above them blocking out the direct light of the sun. A few hundred meters from the temple, a faint but unmistakable path appeared. It was narrow, but Jack could see where the encroaching grass had covered it, hiding a much wider avenue. At first, the track was just a leveler area of hard-packed dirt, but soon the thin sliver broadened slightly, and the lines of pavers could be seen. The road led them to the door of the temple. Without hesitation, Sam and Daniel stepped closer to examine the structure. Teal'c stopped a short distance away and planted his feet, back to the mountain and eyes scanning back along the path. Jack shared a glance with him as he passed.
“Daniel? What have we got?”
Daniel was running his hands over one of the pillars that held up the temple's facade. At this proximity, they could see that the building did extend into the base of the mountain, though it was unclear how far.
“These are Aeolic columns,” Daniel replied, giving the column a pat. He was frowning faintly, but his eyes were alight. “They're related to the Ionic order of Greek architecture, but little is known about the Aeolic order.”
“And?” Jack asked quickly, sensing the impending arrival of a rambling education in ancient building methods.
Daniel blinked at him. “'And' nothing. It's just interesting.”
“Carter? Anything you'd like to add?”
Sam looked up from her examination of the temple walls, which were about six feet in from the pillars.
“This is all hand-carved, sir,” she said, a hint of wonder in her voice. She gestured to encompass the temple in general. “All of this was carved, by hand, from the mountain, and then the front part was built on to create the temple facade.” She shook her head, gazing at the wall and running her fingertips over its surface. “It must have taken them ages.”
Teal'c, joining them, cast his eye around the space. “I have seen similar techniques used to create strongholds for the Goa'uld.”
“Goa'uld, living in caves?” Jack asked in disbelief.
“There are some who prefer to live within the security of subterranean abodes. A few such palaces were created merely to display the wealth and power of the resident god. The labor required to carve out a cave to the exacting specifications of a Goa'uld's desire is substantial.” His jaw tightening a fraction. “Many slaves would die in the process.”
“You think a Goa'uld could have built this place?”
Teal'c eyed the structure once more. “It is possible.”
“Sir, I'm going to go check—” Sam was standing at the doorway and pointing into the building, the scanner still clutched in her hand.
“Why don't we all go inside?” Jack replied, and he shooed Daniel in front of him.
Sam slipped in ahead of them and Teal'c came to stand in the doorway, alternating his careful watch between the team inside and the path leading to the temple. The temple interior was roughly hewn, the mountain-side wall more like that of a natural cave than the smoother structure they had seen outside and that which graced the inside of the exterior wall. There was only one room. Though essentially a cave, it was surprisingly bright. Large slots near the roof of the outer wall allowed in ample sunlight, and the room's relative shallowness meant that the light reached every corner.
The temple was bright, cool, and empty. Niches had been carved into the walls at either side, but otherwise the room lacked ornamentation. The only object in the space was a waist-high pedestal of black stone. The top of the pedestal was flat, though there was a round peg of some sort in the center. Daniel and Sam were already circling the pedestal when Jack stepped through the doorway.
“And what is that?” he asked.
“Don't know,” Daniel replied in a distracted tone.
Jack turned to Sam.
“Not sure, sir, but it's giving off energy of some kind.” Sam stopped and stepped up to the device, holding her scanner just above its surface.
“'Of some kind'?” Jack asked. Up close, he could see that the peg was actually a short cylinder, approximately an inch in diameter, set into the top of the pedestal. Though the pedestal top had appeared flat, it was actually a very shallow bowl rimmed by about an inch of flat surface.
Sam didn't spare him a glance as she frowned at the scanner and tapped a few buttons. “The readings are faint and disjointed. I'm going to need more time and information to figure out what this is.”
“I might be able to help with that,” Daniel said from the floor. He was sitting cross-legged beside the pedestal, nose only a few inches away from it. Jack and Sam moved over to him. On that side of the device, symbols had been etched into the stone.
“Instructions?” Jack asked.
“Maybe.” Daniel drew a finger across the top line, mouthing silently to himself as he read. “It's Greek,” he said. “At least, a very modified cousin of Greek. These inscriptions tell of an order of priestesses or something similar, calling them to their 'honored duty in the sacred tasks.’”
As Daniel spoke, Sam circled the device again, carefully running her hands over the stone. She stopped opposite Daniel and began scraping at the top of the pedestal.
Daniel, reading a few more lines, glanced toward the doorway. “I'm not so sure the Goa'uld were ever here,” he called to Teal'c. “It sounds like this temple was built by people from another planet, and their spiritual leaders came here for rituals of some sort.”
Teal'c inclined his head in acknowledgment just as Sam let out a quiet “Ha!” of triumph. With a scrape, she pulled a small panel of stone from the pillar top and set it aside with a muted clack. Beneath the panel was a network of crystals, and she immediately set to examining them.
“The technology looks like Goa'uld,” she told Daniel, who looked up from his perusal of the text. “Crystalline.”
“The people who built it might have been under Goa'uld control before or during its construction,” Daniel offered, “or they may have picked up the knowledge from the Goa'uld and started using it on their own.”
Sam nodded and they fell silent as one read and the other tested. Teal'c continued his wary guard. Jack ambled around the cave, nosing into the niches.
After checking an entire row of crystals, Sam shook her head. “I'm not getting anything from this,” she huffed. “The crystals appear to be dead, or at least dormant, but the device is giving off faint energy from somewhere.”
“Stored energy?” Jack offered helpfully.
“Could be,” Sam replied. “But then why isn't it getting to the crystals?”
“Maybe because it's not on,” Daniel said.
“Don't tell me this thing has an 'on' switch,” Jack said.
“Not exactly.”
Daniel traced his finger across a few more symbols then glanced up and said a word that made Jack say, “Gesundheit”. They waited a few seconds, looking around the room. Even Teal'c glanced inside with interest from his place in the door. But nothing happened.
“Nothing happened,” Jack said.
“Yes, I can see that.”
Jack started to say something else, but at that moment, Sam repeated the word Daniel had spoken. She did so slowly, hesitantly, testing the unfamiliar sounds with a small frown on her face. She got so far as tacking on an “isn't that” before a low hum filled the room and a soft blue light began to emanate from inside the cylinder on top of the device. Everyone stared at it for a long minute.
“Huh,” Jack said.
“What happened?” Sam was already sifting through the data, her eyes darting back and forth as she followed the read-out on her scanner. “The energy readings just tripled,” she said. She narrowed her eyes at the crystal tray. “I didn't do anything.”
“Yes you did,” Daniel countered. “You gave it the 'on' command.”
Sam stared at him in confusion. “I did what?”
Daniel held up a finger and turned back to the pedestal’s inscription. “You just said the word for 'on'—well, technically you said the word for 'break silence', which appears to be the way to active this device—and now we just have to find... ah, here it is: siga.”
When nothing happened, Daniel looked up at Sam. “Sam, you try it.”
Still clearly perplexed, Sam did as he asked. Again, the pedestal remained active. Daniel tried another word, 'siopa', next, then asked Sam to repeat it.
“Siopa,” she said dutifully. Immediately, the hum faded away, as did the light on the pedestal top.
“Interesting,” Daniel murmured.
“What, that it likes Sam better than you?” Jack asked.
Daniel ignored him. “Sam, could you turn it on again?”
She did so, and Daniel turned to Jack. “Jack, say 'siopa.’”
“Siopa,” Jack said with a shrug. He waved a hand at the still glowing pedestal. “Nothing.”
“Interesting,” Sam said. She shared a glance with Daniel.
“What?” Jack asked. But he saw the gleam in his scientists' eyes, and knew they weren't really listening. Before he could head off the information avalanche at the pass, they were on a roll.
“It must operate by pitch, honing in on specific frequencies and acoustic resonance—”
“The fact that it only responds to you makes sense. Based on the writing here, the only people allowed in this temple would have been women—female priests—”
“And using the particular frequency and resonance of the female vocal chords as a sort of lock mechanism—”
“They might have been something like the vestal virgins of ancient Rome: girls chosen specifically to perform religious tasks that were off limits to their male counterparts—”
“It's amazing. I mean, we didn't have viable dictation software until the 90s, much less viable voice recognition and here they are with their stone pedestal and their crystals—”
“From this, it seems like oral tradition was an important part of their spirituality; the inscriptions tell of 'speaking the words' and 'filling the silence'—”
“There's no sign of any sort of membrane or other structure for facilitating the collection of sound waves... unless the cave itself serves as a sort of filter, using vibration through the stone—”
“The concept of silence as sacred—or even a sacrament—can be found in religions all over Earth: Christianity, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism. Many indigenous cultures also attached a certain level of spirituality to silence—”
“Do you think these priestesses had a vow of silence?” Sam asked curiously, pulled from her own technological musings by the thought.
Daniel shrugged a shoulder and turned his attention back to the inscription. “The language used here seems to indicate the importance of speech, of the ability—or, rather, the opportunity, the responsibility—to speak within the temple. That would lend credence to the thought that they might have viewed speech itself as something sacred and only allowed at particular times.” He paused, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Thinking about it, it wasn't uncommon for women in power to employ eunuchs as servants.”
“What?” Jack quickly turned back from sweeping through one of the wall niches. He brushed his hand off on his pants and strode over to rejoin them. “What was that?”
“Maybe there was a certain range for the lock, then,” Sam posited. She turned her gaze on Jack, and he tensed. “Sir, say 'siopa' again, but do it in a higher voice.”
“Excuse me?”
“Say it higher, closer to Sam's natural pitch,” Daniel ordered brusquely.
“Why?”
“We're trying to determine how the auditory lock mechanism works, whether it has to be triggered by a female voice in particular, or if it only relies on pitch.” Sam snapped her fingers and turned back to Daniel. “We should also try for harmonic oscillation,” she said.
“Definitely.”
“What?” Jack asked again, somewhat desperately this time.
Daniel pushed his glasses up on his nose and stared up at Jack. “We need to test a few theories. Say 'siopa' again, and follow Sam's lead for how it should sound.”
“And how will my talking like a cartoon character—”
Sam glared at him, and he cut himself short. “Just try to mimic my voice, sir,” she said firmly.
They spent the next half hour repeating the two words over and over, first Sam, then Jack and Daniel mimicking her at various pitches and with varying effects. The pair tried to rope Jack into further experiments, but when they launched into a detailed turn of trying similar sounding words, he quickly excused himself to “help Teal'c with keeping watch.” They continued on without him for some time. Now and then in the excited chatter, Jack would catch phrases like “Q-factor” and “Parry and Lord” or “auditory sacraments” and “Hidden Markov models.”
After leaving them to it for an hour or so, he strode back over to check on their progress.
“So, what have you found out?”
Sam glanced up. “Apparently, whatever operates the lock is specifically tuned to female voices, though I can't figure out how it distinguishes from male and female.”
“The inscription here doesn't go into much detail,” Daniel added. “It's mostly a call to duty, a blessing of the site, that sort of thing.”
“Okay,” Jack replied. “But what does it do?”
Sam and Daniel blinked at him.
“Do?” Daniel asked.
“I don't think it does anything, sir.” Sam tapped the cylinder in the top of the pedestal. “There's a piece missing.”
Jack stared between them. “So you've been—”
“Playing with the security system, yes.”
He stared at them some more. They gave him twin looks of wide-eyed innocence. He couldn't be certain because he had his back to the door, but he would have bet good money that Teal'c had an eyebrow raised in amusement and that upturn at the corner of his mouth that passed for a Jaffa smile. Jack sighed and firmly jabbed his sunglasses back on his face.
“Let's go.”
“But—!”
“Jack—!”
“Ah ah ah!” He waggled a finger at them and then jabbed it toward the door. “Outside. March, two, three, four.”
Sulking a bit, but hiding smiles, Sam and Daniel headed outside. Jack followed them. As he drew level with the door, Teal'c met his eyes.
“Oh, shut up.”
Teal'c smirked, and followed Jack into the light.